


answerphone

by archieknight



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, psychic adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 22:24:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15981767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archieknight/pseuds/archieknight
Summary: au where gansey meets adam when he’s working the phone at 300 fox way





	answerphone

The first time Gansey called, it was to ask how the phone line worked. 

“Hello,” he answered, significantly less enthusiastically than Jimi or Orla would have. 

He sounded surprised when he replied. “Good afternon! I’m calling to see if I could ask a few questions about the workings of your business.”

“What?” Adam said bluntly.

“Sorry, I should explain. I’m currently researching ley lines and their related magic, and your business intrigues me. See, I know it is all astral planes and energy, but I thought I’d get a better idea of how it works, if I eliminated factors like sight.”

Adam held back a yawn. “Right. Well, we can still sense your energy field through your voice. The connection can still be made,” he explained.

“I see...” he said, his voice a little muffled like he was talking through his hand. “What’s my energy field like?”

His energy was erratic, contrasted against his formal tone. But he didn’t seem nervous. Adam got the impression he had never been nervous in his life. “Restless… Your energy is all jittery-- distracting, actually… You’re driven, that’s for sure. In what direction though?”

“Is that something you can help with?” He asked, unsure now.

He paused for a while, searching. He hadn’t quite gotten the hang of this, and Orla had told him to work the phone line as practise, rather than embarrass them in front of customers in the physical realm.

That was the problem, he was searching for something that the man hadn’t found. He simply found the act of looking. “You’re looking for something,” Adam said.

“The ley lines.”

“Not that,” he murmured. “It’s not academic, not logical. It’s longing for something more.”

“Those can overlap,” he said, sounding a little defensive.

“Tell me about it,” Adam said under his breath. 

“What?”

Adam hung up. Everything about that boy’s energy was loud. He shook out his shoulders and got up out of the wooden chair. Blue was standing in the doorway, which explained why everything sounded like screaming. 

“Everything okay?” Blue asked. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. 

“You look exhausted,” she frowned.

“I always look exhausted.”

“Bad call?” she guessed, tilting her head.

“Yeah,” he nodded. 

“Want me to ask Jimi to take it from here?” she offered. Adam shook his head. “She won’t mind,” she added, knowing Adam would never take that offer. 

“It’s okay. Just a particularly noisy customer, I guess.”

He wasn’t noisy in the way Blue would have interpreted it. Truthfully, Adam loved his job, but customers were hit and miss. Many of them cried when you gave them good or bad news, or got angry when you told them the truth about themselves. Adam always hung up on those, as much as Orla told him not to.

The problem with this one was that his voice sounded like money and his thoughts sounded like nightmares, that combination gave Adam a headache. 

Blue’s face fell, her mouth making a small O. “Should I leave then?” 

“Next call, yeah.”

She nodded.

-

The second time he called, Orla answered. 

“Some guy called the phone asking for you,” Orla said when Adam stepped into 300 Fox Way with Blue. “He said he wanted to apologise for being uncooperative, and asked if he could speak to you again for a tarot reading.”

Adam nodded. 

“What happened?” Orla asked.

“Nothing. It was a normal call until his energy got a bit loud--”

“--My bad,” chimed Blue.

“I’m sorry, really. I shouldn’t have hung up.”

“Don’t be silly. We all do it.” Orla smiled in a way that used to make Adam stammer, he was getting used to her though. “Anyway, I told him to call back when you were next working.”

“So… Now?”

And the phone rang, sharp through the regular rattle of 300 Fox Way. Orla grinned at Blue, who gave her a confused look before turning to Adam, who shrugged and picked up the phone. “Hello,” he answered. 

“Hello,” he said, his voice pitched up. “I wanted to apologise for my last call, I realise that what I asked is not your job.”

Adam shooed Blue and Orla away. “Uh, no. It’s okay. I suppose it’s not something you can just google,” he shrugged. 

The man laughed. “Well, I am sorry. Truly.”

“My, uh, colleague said you wanted to a tarot reading also?” Adam asked, reminding himself that this was a job. 

“Yes, if that works,” he said. 

“Uh, yeah… Just a moment, I’ll go get the cards,” he said, quickly dashing across the tiny room to grab the deck. 

“Right, so…” Adam wasn’t great at the speaking when it came to this, he couldn’t make it sound mystical and flowery like the other psychics did, so he just made efforts to sound as confident as possible in it. “What’s your name, just by the way?” he asked.

“Gansey,” he answered. Adam rolled his eyes. This guy-- Gansey-- was certainly a Aglionby boy, going by his last name.

“Okay, Gansey. I need you to focus on your question-- you don’t need to say it out loud, just think very carefully.”

“Okay,” Gansey said quietly. His energy calmed down now, precisely singled down to his question, his search. 

Adam shuffled the cards while Gansey was breathing down the phone. He placed them down to lay out on the table. “Right, so I’m doing a three card reading. Representing past, present, and future.”

He waited a moment before turning the card, dragging it out as long as possible. “Your first card is the Page of Swords. You’re youthful, talkative. You ask why, with anticipation. You were an avid learner as a child, probably quite precocious.”

Gansey laughed, but didn’t interrupt. His laugh was distorted over the phone, breathy and static. 

“Your second card…” His breath over the phone hitched momentarily, before letting out a soft, drawn-out sigh. Less of shock more of waiting, awkwardly. “Eight of Pentacles. The card of apprenticeship, and you’re on the right track. You’ve got to keep on with that, but at the risk of isolating yourself from peers.”

Adam was painfully aware of his accent then, sounding uneducated and unsure. How did this guy not think it was a con or something? Some trailer park kid telling him his future, what a scam. He thought of Persephone’s voice, unsettling yet calming, and ever so quiet. That was the kind of voice you trusted with psychic ritual. 

Gansey hadn’t said anything, so he just pressed on.

“Your last card, is Death--”

“--Which doesn’t mean actually Death, right?”

“No, not always. New beginnings, and such. Which of course, you know.”

“Okay,” he said firmly. 

Adam hesitated, “That card doesn’t worry you, right?”

“No. No. Not at all.” 

“Perhaps it’s time for a new approach? To ditch theory for practicality?”

“That does sound right, I suppose.”

Adam smiled slightly. “Is there anything else?”

“Uh, no. Actually-- Nevermind.”

“What?” 

“It doesn’t matter. Thank you…?”

“You’re welcome.”

“What’s your name, by the way, I feel awfully rude.”

“Adam.”

“Thank you, Adam.”

“Good luck with whatever you’re looking for, Gansey. I’m sure you’ll find it.”

“Me too.”

Adam listened to the silence at the other end for a moment before slamming the phone down when he realised his hesitation. He shook out his shoulders, aching from having held the phone to his ear for so long, and then packed away his cards. 

-

The fourth time he did not even bother with a hello, instead lead with: “Do you know anything about spirit roads?”

“H-huh?” 

“Sorry, it’s just a quick question. Well it was, but I waited 2 hours until I knew you’d be on the line… Assuming you always work the same hours…”

“I do. Work the same hours, I mean. And I suppose I know about spirit roads, yes.”

Gansey immediately erupted into a lecture about dead Welsh kings and ley lines and such. Adam listened because on one hand, Gansey was paying a dollar a minute to talk to Adam. And on the other, he kind of liked listening to Gansey talk. It wasn’t even what he spoke about, as intriguing as that was, it was a rhythm of his voice, releasing his erratic energy. 

So they spoke, Adam only pitching in to challenge an idea he’d already known Gansey was unsure about. On the last one, Gansey noted how intuitive Adam was.

“Well, it’s kind of my job.”

It was “kind of” his job, considering he had 4 of them, but Gansey didn’t need to know that. He laughed, “It is… Could I…?”

“Could you what?”

“Get your number-- your actual one. I really enjoy speaking with you. Unless I’m overstepping here.”

“I don’t have a phone.”

“Oh,” Gansey muttered. That sounded like rejection. 

“I’ll call you next time,” Adam said.

“I’d like that.”

“Okay.”

“Until next time, Adam,” Gansey said confidently. 

“Until next time.”

Gansey was the first to hang up this time. Adam placed the phone down slowly, a little weirded out. He stood up and made his way to the kitchen to get some tea. 

In the kitchen were Maura, Calla, and Blue. The two older women sat at the table while Blue sat on the counter, staring out the window with a plate of pie. She smiled through a mouthful at Adam in a way that still made Adam stammer. 

“Hey,” he said. 

“Was that your new best friend? What’s his name, anyway?” Blue questioned him, her legs swinging off the side. 

“Gansey.”

She swallowed some pie, “Just Gansey?”

“I’m assuming it’s a last name.”

Blue groaned. “Ugh. Is he a Raven Boy?”

“I think so.”

“I’m gonna…” Blue hesitated, “My shift starts in an hour, I need to change and stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll be at the phone if you need me,” Adam replied, eyeing her strangely. 

“You’ll be waiting on Mr. Gansey, I know,” she said with a wink. 

-

Adam didn’t get a chance to call Gansey before he met with the real thing face to face. Adam was right, he was Aglionby, and very much so. Big watch, perfect hair, perfect teeth, designer clothes. This was only made worse by Adam’s contrasting attire: oil stained overalls and a bright yellow shirt with the logo so faded Adam didn’t even remember what it was. 

He was handsome too, in a way that made Adam jealous and… something else. Luckily, he could distract himself with the boy’s car. That car, he could be in more awe of. Of course, at this point Adam didn’t know that this was Gansey, so he explained what was janky about the car with his classic Henrietta drawl. And more to his horror, Gansey recognised it. 

“Your voice sounds familiar, do you go to Aglionby?”

“Do I look like I go to Aglionby?” Adam answered sarcastically. Okay, maybe he did, but Gansey here had never noticed him before, so why should he now? This is not what Adam wanted to be memorable for. 

“Oh, um, sorry.”

Adam bit back a rude response, and just nodded. In that moment, he felt Gansey’s frazzled energy, along with the calm facade, and knew it was him. He took a deep breath in, and didn’t let himself say another word. 

And once again, Gansey asked questions. This time, about the car and what had happened and how he could stop it from happening. He wouldn’t admit it, but this pleased Adam. Most Raven Boys wouldn’t care, they’d drop the car off and leave, it wasn’t their issue to deal with. 

Well, really, he realised it was because Gansey loved that Camaro. The conversation turned to Gansey talking about how much he loved vintage cars-- vintage everything actually. He was an old soul.

Eventually, the car was starting again. Gansey thanked and payed him. He lingered for a moment after, “It’s Adam, right?” 

Adam looked down to where his name badge was usually, but the overalls were tied at his waist. He looked up at Gansey with furrowed eyebrows, but he knew Gansey had just recognised his voice from the phone. 

Gansey gave a small smile, “A psychic and a mechanic. You’re a man of many talents.”

He let out a laugh, but hunched his shoulders a bit. 

“What time do you get off?” Gansey asked, pressing his thumb to his lip, a light look in his eyes. 

“11,” Adam answered shortly. 

“Okay,” Gansey said, in the same rejected manner he had when Adam said he didn’t have a phone.

“I said I’d call you,” Adam added.

Gansey opened his mouth to say something, but it shortly turned into a smile. “I look forward to it.”


End file.
